Small engine with points?

[dfkrug]

That's an old one. I had a Horse with a similar setup, but don't remember much about it. I do recall swapping the engine for a 5HP Tecumseh which my father had lying around.

...and the Tecumseh engines mostly have an oil pump for better lubrication of engine bearings. Just landed a free 5hp mower for my latest project.

I would try to repair the old flathead engine on that tiller if the bore is good. Aftermarket electronic ignition upgrades are cheap.

 

[DJ54]

Pretty sure that reverse pulley is driven off the camshaft, which turns the opposite direction of the crankshaft.

You should be able to find an exploded view of the engine by entering the model number, and type of the engine found on the engine shroud to Google.

 

[dodge man]

My buddy got some gas tank liner from a motorcycle guy. It looked pretty good when he was done. We will put it back together and see.

 

[Williy]

Points way back in the 60's when I purchased a VW bug
the points had a 1/2 inch of metal on both sides for contact
but when I purchased points in the USA very little metal and
both sides had holes in the middle need less to say they didn't
last very long

willy

 

[dodge man]

I’m not sure the hole in the middle of the points wasn’t designed to dissipate heat.

 

[dodge man]

We threw in the towel on this tiller for now. He got the gas tank lined and cleaned out and I think the carb is ok but I’m not 100% sure. The spark plug turned out to be bad. It runs now but very poorly. The mixture screw does nothing, you can remove it from the carb completely and it doesn’t run worse or better. My friend sent a video to someone he knows that used to work at a lawn mower place that closed down recently. He is suppose to get a shop open in the fall, we’ll see. He thinks it’s a problem with the valves.

Looking at the engine number it was made in 2001 so it shouldn’t have points.

Correction, he wrote down 01 for the year, but I bet the 0 is an 8 so it was made in 1981.

 

[2manyrocks]

Here is a picture of it. The larger pulley on the right part of the engine case is part of the reverse setup. I’m not sure but I don’t think it’s a powered shaft but it does go into the engine. The main drive shaft has two pulleys and the belt can be swapped for slightly higher or lower ground speed.
View attachment 3471734

If the pulley to the top right hand side spins freely without the belt, I would think it is just an idler pulley. Would be great to have this tiller running because there is still a lot of garden weeding season ahead.

 

[dodge man]

I’ve messed with it some more. We put a diaphragm in the carb. It starts a runs sort of. If you turn the tines on it dies after a few seconds. Eventually it wouldn’t run at all. We got new gaskets that go under the carb and above the gas tank but it’s still leaking there. We think that might be making it run poorly. We are going to try some gasket sealer.

 

[2manyrocks]

I’ve messed with it some more. We put a diaphragm in the carb. It starts a runs sort of. If you turn the tines on it dies after a few seconds. Eventually it wouldn’t run at all. We got new gaskets that go under the carb and above the gas tank but it’s still leaking there. We think that might be making it run poorly. We are going to try some gasket sealer.

Did the owner leave ethanol gas sitting in it?

There are a couple of Pony repower videos on youtube, but the ones I checked werent able to get the reverse to work.

Maybe more importantly, there are other videos saying the carb is likely the culprit when these wont start or run badly. They pull fuel from tanks under the carb so a leak could mean it isnt able to draw fuel up into the carb like it needs.

Frustrateduserguides on yt has a carb repair video on the 1981 Pony tiller.

 

[dodge man]

Yes he left ethanol fuel in it over the winter and it wasn’t full either, a bad combo. There are two tubes that drop into the tank, one long and one short. The short one has a little chamber it sits in. It’s my understanding the long tube brings fuel into the little bowl under the short tube. I can see how a leak would prevent that from working correctly.

I’ve watched a couple of YouTube videos on the carb issues.

It’s become a little bit of an obsession to get it going.

 

[ultrarunner]

I have had some coated steel tanks on ATVs, and the coatings did not hold up well with 10% ethanol gas. If one is more fortunate, the rust (and the first pinholes) are mostly at the bottom of the tank and it can be patched and welded. Some early machines had soldered-in bungs in the fuel tanks, and that resulted in electrolysis.

I have also resorted to fabbing a new tank with stainless steel, but that is best when it is covered up with plastic panels.

This is where plastic tanks are clearly better, but sadly some new equipment still employ steel.

I have several coated tanks good for decades from motorcycles to automobiles..

The alcohol turned the aviation coating to goo and now I have a mess…

Great product for the times but not with alcohol.

 

[CalG]

I have several coated tanks good for decades from motorcycles to automobiles..

The alcohol turned the aviation coating to goo and now I have a mess…

Great product for the times but not with alcohol.

Did you use what was affectionately known as "slosh"?

There is two part stuff available now that works, but the kits are costly.

Two part epoxy or even polyurethane works.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yes… sloshing compound sold as aviation fuel tank sealer.

I had a nice Honda bike that kept clogging fuel filters…

Pulled it and sloshed around a can of nuts and bolts and let dry.

The next weekend sloshed 3 times and zero fuel problems over the next 6 years of my ownership…

Sloshed many Model A Ford gas tanks.

25 years ago with California reformulated gas is when I started having problems with sloshed tanks and rubber fuel lines…

It was not just me as every day the news had commuter stories of car fires and fuel leaks from degraded rubber fuel hose…

 

[CalG]

Yes he left ethanol fuel in it over the winter and it wasn’t full either, a bad combo. There are two tubes that drop into the tank, one long and one short. The short one has a little chamber it sits in. It’s my understanding the long tube brings fuel into the little bowl under the short tube. I can see how a leak would prevent that from working correctly.

I’ve watched a couple of YouTube videos on the carb issues.

It’s become a little bit of an obsession to get it going.

I bet it needs a good carb cleaning with attention to all the gaskets and fitting, jets. tubes, airways and passages.
I've had the carb off twice over the years. First time because I jumped the tiller off a 4 foot retaining wall. That was fun! The tiller landed on the fuel tank side and pulled the carb body off the engine. (bent the flange)

The second time was about five years ago. Routine cleaning...

That and confirm the valves are moving. (compression good?)

 

[ultrarunner]

Have not had one in years but Berryman 5 gallon pail of carb cleaner, compressed air and a micro drill bit set with welding tip cleaners saved a lot of carburetors for me…

More recently the online cheap carbs have proved to be a good fix…

Brother bought a like new Craftsman riding mower the family could not start… they bought a new battery and air up the tires… still no go.

The last day of the estate sale it was still there and my brother asked about it and was told $500… brother said he was thinking $75 and got it.

New carb and oil change and good to go…

 

[CalG]

 

[2manyrocks]

Putting ethanol gas in these old engines is just asking for trouble because none of the carb parts were designed for it.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep but outside of canned gas at the hardware store there is not ethanol free within 75 to 100 miles from me and airport is high security and tail number registration required.

 

[dodge man]

That video was pretty good CalG. It gave me a couple of things to look for. I’ve cleaned the carb out more than once.

 

[CalG]

That video was pretty good CalG. It gave me a couple of things to look for. I’ve cleaned the carb out more than once.

It's the little things!

And I thank you for the inspiration!

Tomorrow, I'm going to dig that tiller out of the garden shed and make sure it runs this year! I might even dump out the gas that has been in the tank for two years now (e10, OH THE HORROR).

Or I might just till a patch out back for grins and giggles!
It's rained so much the past two weeks, the ground might be a bit too much to till.